Our Town Host Andy Ockershausen Takes a Look Back at Season One

People have done so much for our community, Kurt Erickson with an alcohol program, Jim Dinegar, President of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, Catherine Meloy, Goodwill Services, Irene Pollin, Abe’s wife, has written a beautiful book, and Lyles Carr of the McCormick company.

Announcer:GEICO presents Our Town, Season Two. A 30 minute podcast produced by Best Bark Communications, a small but fierce client-centered marketing company powered by decades of experience and well-established business networks.
GEICO, 15 minutes can save you 15 percent or more on car insurance. Now, here’s your host, Andy Ockershausen.Andy Ockershausen, Our Town Podcast HostAndy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen and you’re listening to Our Town.
Season one of Our Town was a complete success. We interviewed over 50 guests, including some of our favorite people like Sonny, I don’t have to say Sonny who, you know, Chip Akridge, Frank Harden, Frank Herzog, Regardie, I don’t even have to say his first name, Catherine Meloy, Susan Lacz and Harry Jaffe. The list goes on and on. Now we’re going to go on to Season Two.

We’ve got Jim Vance in a fabulous interview, I beg you to listen to it; Kathleen Matthews, Doc Walker,Chris Plante, Diana Mayhew, Senator George Allen who was also Governor George Allen, Joe DiGenova among others, here in our Season Two line up. So we’ll have them and many more.

The amazing part of Our Town is we’ve heard from hundreds of friends and people whether it’s on the street, whether it’s in a dinner party, whether it’s in church, they all have been listening to Our Town. People come to us out of the blue and say, “We’ve heard what you’re doing and we love it. We want so and so and so and so.”

We’ve had tons of recommendations from people to be guests on Our Town and we try to accommodate most of them, but right now we’d like to acknowledge and thank our friends at GEICO, for underwriting Our Town. GEICO has been a responsible and important contributor to our town for over 80 years. It’s a wonderful, wonderful company. It’s headquartered here, it’s a worldwide company, number two in all the insurance companies in the world and we just love GEICO and thank them so much for their support. GEICO people and they know this is a great place to live and to play and to work. We thank them for that and we thank them for their support. Remember, 15 minutes can save you 15 percent or more on car insurance. That’s our GEICO.

Now here’s a look back at some of the highlights from Season One; like Women in Our Town. Some very important people like Christine Brennan.Christine Brennan in studio during Our Town interview

Christine Brennan: I think you can make the case; the greatest coach in NFL history. I know that’s saying a lot.Andy Ockershausen: He’s got a record that proves that.Christine Brennan: Three Superbowls, three different quarterbacks.Andy Ockershausen: Three different teams.Christine Brennan: Right. Not one of those quarterbacks will ever make the hall of fame.Andy Ockershausen: I understand that.Christine Brennan: Yeah, Joe Theismann, Doug Williams.Andy Ockershausen: Don’t tell Theismann that.Christine Brennan: It’s our secret. Don’t tell him. Joe, if you’re listening, sorry pal. But Doug Williams and then Mark Rypien. Three different quarterbacks, not a one of them is good enough to be in the hall of fame and Joe Gibbs wins Superbowls with all three including two strike years. The coach is amazing and to deal with, on the record, he’d get mad about something, he’d call me at home angry about a headline, I said, “Joe, coach,” I’d call him coach, “I don’t write the headlines.” He goes, “I know, I know, will you bring the guy that writes the headlines out here one day and let me talk to him?” You know, like there was one guy writing the headlines, there was probably fifteen people writing headlines. But we’d have this conversation, he’d get angry or upset, or bring up the point if he had something, some days of course he was fine, he’d go, “what is your thought?” He’d ask me for my opinion, Andy. I mean, who does that?Andy Ockershausen: That’s unheard of.Christine Brennan: Right, because it’s the middle of the season-Andy Ockershausen: Lombardi wouldn’t do that.Christine Brennan: No way.Cary Hatch and Miles Mawby at Our Town Season One Launch Party

Cary Hatch on Volunteering and Showing Up

Andy Ockershausen: And Cary Hatch spent a few minutes with us. Cary Hatch: Samaritans for the Homeless, being one of them that comes to mind, we’re currently working with the Truth Initiative, I serve on a lot of different boards, International Women’s Foundation, Leadership Greater Washington, and Heros for sure.Andy Ockershausen: Heros, absolutely.Cary Hatch: Heros has made a huge difference in the community and we’ve been fortunate to work with their brand-Andy Ockershausen: International Women’s Forum, I mean the list goes on and on. When you’re working with these organizations, because I tell people it’s one thing to join, but it’s another thing to show up. And you show up, and these things must take a lot of your time, but your time is your life.Cary Hatch: Well, and it’s also my word, it’s my bond, and why would you volunteer to do something if you’re not going to contribute, I mean I think that, honestly, is a character flaw. I’m not willing to commit our time, my company’s time, certainly not my time, for something that’s not going to reflect positively, and when you give your word that you’re going to do something, you and I are cut from the same cloth on this, you show up, you do what you say you’re going to do, and if something good comes out of that, all the better. But you can’t be looking for the next trick, the next quid pro quo necessarily. It’s about contributing and making you know, a life that’s meaningful.Andy Ockershausen: We also heard from Carol Joynt.Carol Ross Joynt

Carol Ross Joynt: “Well hello there, Carol Ross, there you are. You came and looked me up,” and he kind of bats Bernie out of the way and he says, “would you like to come in and watch me do the evening news?” I don’t do a very good Walter-Andy Ockershausen: Yes you do, yes you do.Carol Ross Joynt: So Walter wherever you are, forgive me, but I followed Walter in, he took me up to the set, he found me a place to sit, I watched him do the show, after it was done, he actually said this to me, “would you like to go outside and have a Coke?” And he took me-Andy Ockershausen: It was a half hour show, correct?Carol Ross Joynt: Yeah and he took me out to the back of their hut, overlooking the launch pad and they had a Coke machine and we each got a bottle of Coke and sat on a curb, and he just talked to me, like I was like-Andy Ockershausen: Like you were a real person?Carol Ross Joynt: Like I was a real person. And he just said to me, “keep in touch with me, whatever you do with your career.”Andy Ockershausen: Wow.Carol Ross Joynt: So at the next launch I went to see him, I was down there to cover it again, I went over to see him.Andy Ockershausen: Who were you covering it for?Carol Ross Joynt: Time Magazine. And he said, “what are you up to?” And I said, “well, I’m quitting Time.” And he said, “why?” I said, “because I’m not a weekly deadline person.”Andy Ockershausen:Susan Lacz joined us, who’s been instrumental in the rise of Ridgewells, a wonderful company.Susan Lacz, in studio during Our Town interview

Susan Lacz on Women in Business and Women Supporting Women in Business

Susan Lacz: You know, as a woman, twenty years ago, and I know there are other of my mentors who, even ten years before me, I mean, oftentimes when you look around the table, I was one of two, maybe three women sitting around the board table, and it’s so nice and refreshing to see more women who are taking a seat at the board table, and I think it’s important for women to take a leadership role and get out there and not be intimidated by all the suits around the table.Andy Ockershausen: Well because the suits around the table kept that as the old boy network.Susan Lacz: Oh yeah.Andy Ockershausen: That has blown apart now and it’s really helped Our Town so much, and helped our lives as they get women involved in business. Women who mean business.Susan Lacz: Yeah, I was an honoree in one of the first classes.Andy Ockershausen: You were probably one of the first ones.Susan Lacz: One of the first classes, I was an honoree. And Ridgewells continues to support that program because I believe that women should support other women.Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.Susan Lacz: That’s one of my main things, my whole sales team are all women, so I’m thrilled to be able to be a mentor and a leader and a good role model for them.Andy Ockershausen: Then, Tara Lewis came by, who’s made it big, big with Yelp.Tara Lewis and Andy Ockershausen, at Our Town Season One Launch Party

Tara Lewis: Oh yeah, that was-Andy Ockershausen: Did you not?Tara Lewis: Yes, and it was crazy, so Ted was on the board of my last company-Andy Ockershausen: Oh yeah, right, they were all in everything.Tara Lewis: Yes, and he was my Facebook friend, very limited profile, but one day I was thinking, you know, you can always learn. Like, I would take an internship right now if there was an area of business that I had no knowledge in, and also to keep my relationships fresh. So I wanted to still say at Revolution Health but I was like, “you know, I miss sports, and I kind of want to stay involved, and I have ideas,” so I sent him a Facebook message, and I think I was twenty five, so I’m like, “what was I thinking?” But obviously it worked out.Andy Ockershausen: A long time ago.Tara Lewis: And it was well written, it was kind of paralleling where I was at my life with when he sort of started writing his book about his goals, and he responded back and said, “hey, come on in to my office, we’ll have a chat, with no real agenda,” and I could not get over his generosity to meet with somebody that didn’t have any immediate thing to offer him.Andy Ockershausen: Right, you must have impressed him, he likes to do the talk online, I know that.Tara Lewis: I think he had a little time and he has a big heart, so he said, “come on over,” and we had a great chat, I learned so much about where he started in business, some of his-Andy Ockershausen: Monumental Sports, and he told you about everything?Tara Lewis: Even before that, even in Georgetown, he was talking about how his first business was like a crushed ice, slushie ice station at Georgetown and how eventually he started having somebody stand there for him and then he was basically creating residual income when he was in college.Andy Ockershausen: Here’s a look back at some of the highlights of Season One in the sports world. Sonny Jurgensen. Dexter Manley, Marty Aronoff. Tim Brant. Andy Pollin. Household names, household worth, we’ve been fortunate enough to have them on Our Town. Entertainment, in the special group, Tommy Curtis, Ernie Baur, is a great storyteller.Ernie Baur in studio during Our Town interview

Ernie Baur on Gordon Peterson and Guy le Guy

Ernie Baur: So, first comes out Gordon, and Glen and Sonny, and we get Gordon Barnes on, who was doing weather. And someone throws a snowball, hits him right in the groin, and someone had a live mic on and you hear, “oh, right in the balls,” so now we’re scrambling, you know? So Gordon Peterson, God bless him, wanders around, and we said, “why don’t you come on?” So he comes on, and he comes on as Guy le Guy-Andy Ockershausen: Oh yeah, the world famous.Ernie Baur: The Venezuelan, he’s an American imitating a Venezuelan hockey player with a Swedish accent, okay? And he’s Guy le Guy. And it’s great. And he talks about, you know, in an accent, I can’t do it, it’s tough to be a hockey player in Venezuela because the ice keeps melting and all this stuff.Andy Ockershausen: A great line.Ernie Baur: And then, “any questions from the audience?” And Chris Gordon raises his hand, “yeah, how long have you been Guy?”Andy Ockershausen: We had so much fun with my pal Tommy Curtis.Tommy Curtis in studio during Our Town interview

Tommy Curtis on Singles and his new project the “Talk to Me” pin

Tommy Curtis: This is the T.T.M, which is my new project, it has been test marketed, it’s called the “Talk to Me” pin, and it allows a single person in supermarket or a library, kids in class, and this is the breaker of the ice, and if the girl is wearing it, the T.T.M-Andy Ockershausen: Feel free to go up to her. To approach her.Tommy Curtis: You can say hello, yes.Andy Ockershausen: That is a great idea. And it’s great for men too.Tommy Curtis: And people love it, you know. You know where I got that from? I got it from the Yale University secret societies. It’s sort of like, this is a secret society for singles, and it’s not that big, and it’s small.Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely right.Tommy Curtis: So couples wouldn’t recognize it but if you’re single-Andy Ockershausen: You would.Tommy Curtis: You will know about the “Talk to Me” pin.Andy Ockershausen: The Great Johnny Holliday.Johnny Holliday in studio during Our Town interview

Johnny Holliday: All right, all right, hello. So he takes my headset, puts it on, “angel, let’s go. Let’s go.” And he goes “three, two, one. Hello everyone, Howard Cosell, the sports arena, Los Angeles, time to talk about the America, back in a moment.” Takes a break, comes back, does the second half, now we’re going to do the show for national. Does the same thing, takes his headset off, throws it down in front of me, picks up the cigar, looks at me and says, “that’s how you do a show.” And walks away. And he had no stopwatch, he was right on time. And every time I’d see him, I’d say, “Howard, how are you doing?” “Hello, Johnny, how are you? How’s Andy O? For God’s sake, unbelievable, a man with absolutely no talent, able to run a radio station the way he does, thank God for people like you.”Andy Ockershausen:And my oldest and dearest friend, Henry Sacks had a lot to say, in some cases, too much.Henry Sacks in studio during Our Town interview

Henry Sacks on the Hideaway Cup and the Five Yard Dash

Henry Sacks: Three years in a row, I won the Hideaway Cup.Andy Ockershausen: How far a race is it, Henry?Henry Sacks: Five yards. When I was a young kid no one could beat me fifty yards.Andy Ockershausen: Is it a dash?Henry Sacks: I could move. I could get out the gate. I’d race David Todd he ain’t stop complaining yet, “I wasn’t ready,” I don’t want to hear that, David. Mitchel’s guy, all of them at least thirty years younger than me.Andy Ockershausen: Did you beat all at fifty five yards?Henry Sacks: All three of them, and Joey, my son Joey, he’s at work, “Dad, please don’t do that, you’re too old, please,” “Joey, leave me alone.” “Is there a doctor there?” I said, “ain’t no doctor there, I’m all right.” So they retired the Hideaway Cup, I won it three years in a row.Andy Ockershausen: They kept it there though, didn’t they?Henry Sacks: Yeah, I can get out the gate now.Andy Ockershausen: Johnny Holliday, Wendy Rieger, Henry Sacks. All in the entertainment world. Even though Wendy’s in news, it’s entertaining, and we appreciate when she’s done what Ernie Baur has done.
People have done so much for our community, Kurt Erickson with an alcohol program, Jim Dinegar, President of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, Catherine Meloy, Goodwill Services, Irene Pollin, Abe’s wife, has written a beautiful book, and Lyles Carr of the McCormick company.
We’re looking forward to Season Two launching on May 23. It’ll be here before you know it. In the meantime, if you like what you hear, please write a review or give us a rating on iTunes, share us on Facebook and keep those cards and letters coming. We love hearing from you about ourtowndc.comAnnouncer: You’ve been listening to Our Town, Season Two, presented by GEICO. Our home town favorite, with your host, Andy Ockerhausen. New Our Town episodes are released each Tuesday and Thursday. Drop us a line with your comments or suggestions. See us on Facebook, or visit our website at ourtowndc.com
Our special thanks to Ken Hunter, our technical director, and WMAL Radio in Washington D.C, for hosting our podcast, and thanks to GEICO. Fifteen minutes can save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.